


make you feel better

by niallszayn



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M, fluffy fluff basically, not really smut i just cant write smut, zayn taking care of niall after his surgery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-22
Updated: 2014-01-22
Packaged: 2018-01-09 15:42:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1147749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/niallszayn/pseuds/niallszayn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>zayn takes care of niall after he gets home from his knee surgery</p>
            </blockquote>





	make you feel better

**Author's Note:**

> this is for tori, because she made me write this in the first place and helped me a lot with all of her great ideas :)

The sound of a key in the door made Zayn jump up from his space on Niall’s sofa. _Finally_ , he thought and quickly made his way to the entrance, almost running into who was obviously the driver that had picked Niall up at the airport.

“Oh! Mr Malik” the man said. “I didn’t expect you to be here.”

“Sorry for surprising you” Zayn apologised. “Is Niall still in the car?”

“Yes, Mr Horan asked me to take his bags first” he explained, gesturing to the luggage he had just put down. “I was going to help him up now, though. Unless you -?”

“I’ll take the lift with you, but I’ll wait inside, don’t want to draw unnecessary attention, you know.” _Especially not to the fact that I am even here_.

So Zayn headed downstairs with the driver, from where he could see the silver car with tinted windows that held Niall. He was so close, Zayn could almost feel his presence.

“If you just get him inside, that’d be great. I’ve got him from here” Zayn instructed the driver and shook his hand.

“Sure, Mr Malik. Have a good day.”

“You too.”

He watched as the driver left the building and opened the door of the car. It was hard to see anything, the man was blocking his view, but it took an unsettlingly long time for Niall to emerge from the car. When he did though, Zayn just stared for a minute. Niall was wearing white shorts, a white shirt and a grey jacket, combined with white knee-high socks, one shoe, a big cast on his leg, a scarf and a beanie.

Zayn had seen his upper half in the countless snapchats he’d received over the day and Niall had shown him the cast during one of their skype sessions, but it was quite shocking to see him like this. Zayn’s heart clenched as he took in his boyfriend’s tired, pale and fragile appearance. He looked like someone in desperate need of cuddles.

After he got his crutches handed to him, Niall hopped over to the door, the driver holding it open for him.

“Thank you, Warren” Zayn heard the familiar Irish voice. “I hope your daughter gets better! See ya around!”

He chuckled fondly. Niall was always _so_ nice, he’d probably made the poor man tell him every little detail from his life.

Niall laboriously made his way through the door that swung close behind him, finally looking up and noticing Zayn by the lift.

"Zaynie!" he exclaimed, a grin spreading out on his even paler than usual face. "You're here!"

"Hello love" Zayn said, walking over to him. "Of course I am, I promised, didn't I?"

He put his hand on Niall's arm, wanting nothing more than to pull him in and kiss him, but the lobby of Niall's London apartment was not a safe place for that. They'd still decided it would be the better place for Niall in his current situation, the apartment was small enough for him to get everywhere even with very little mobility, it was all on the same level and it had a lift.

No kissing in the lobby though, so Zayn settled for an arm around the blonde's shoulders. "Let's get you up then, alright?"

Inside the lift, Niall looked at him. "Do they have cameras in here?"

"I don't know, baby, why?"

"Because I really want to kiss ya."

"We're in your apartment in a minute" Zayn said and chuckled at Niall's deep sigh. "So, how was your flight?"

"Long. And boring. I couldn't sleep through all of it, so I got really bored."

"Did your knee hurt at all?"

"Not much. Well, not more than 'm used to by now."

"You mean it always hurts?"

"Don't look so shocked, Z" Niall said as the lift stopped at their floor. "It's completely normal to hurt a bit. I just got my whole knee ripped out and put back in differently, it’s _supposed_ to hurt. Stop worrying so much, babe.”

“Can’t help it, sorry” Zayn grinned as he walked past Niall to open the door of the apartment and helped Niall inside. “You know I always worry about you.”

“I’ve noticed.” Niall turned around to him and slowly, deliberately leaned his crutches on the wall of the hallway, supporting his weight only with his good leg. He swayed a little, making Zayn immediately hold him by the waist to steady him. Niall grinned.

“Oh” Zayn said, a smirk finding its way onto his face too. “This was the plan, I see.” He leaned forward and started placing feathery light kisses everywhere on Niall’s face – except his lips.

“Zayn” Niall whined. “Stop teasing and kiss me already, you twat.”

Zayn laughed and cupped Niall’s cheeks with both of his hands, before leaning in and softly pressing their lips together. “Missed you” he mumbled.

Niall wrapped his arms around Zayn’s middle, pulling him even closer. “Missed ya more.”

They stood in the hallway like that for a few minutes, trading slow kisses and holding each other, just enjoying each other’s close proximity. After a while, Zayn took a small step back without loosening his hold on Niall.

“You probably shouldn’t be standing this long, love” he said. “Come on, I prepared the sofa for you.”

He bent down and gently picked Niall up, trying to keep his knee as still as possible. Niall made a small noise of protest but held on to Zayn anyway. Zayn carried Niall to the lounge, where he had propped up some pillows on the couch and made a comfortable bed out of them and a couple of blankets.

Carefully, he laid down his precious load on the sofa, straightening up again, ready to go to the kitchen to get some tea or snacks. A hand on his wrist stopped him, though. Niall made a whiny sound and grabby hands at him. “Come cuddle me.”

“Don’t you want a cup of tea? Or something to eat?”

“No, I want cuddles.”

“Before food?” Zayn gaped at him only half mockingly.

“Just come here or I’ll change my mind.”

Zayn smiled at him fondly and moved to squeeze onto the sofa with his boyfriend. “Wait, what if I nudge you by mistake? Don’t wanna hurt you, baby.”

“Jesus, Zayn, a fucking nudge isn’t gonna kill me” Niall groaned, shuffling to make more space. “Get your arse over here or I’ll start crying. Trust me, these meds do strange things t’ me.”

Chuckling, Zayn crawled into Niall’s waiting arms, throwing one arm around his waist and nuzzling his neck. Niall sighed and wrapped his arms around him, burying his nose in Zayn’s dark hair. They stayed like this until Niall’s stomach growled audibly, making both of them laugh.

“Traitor” Niall mumbled to his stomach but let go of Zayn when he moved to get up.

“My mum gave me some food to reheat for you, I’m just gonna pop it into the microwave and bring it to you. D’you want a cup of tea or something?”

“Your mum’s an angel” Niall sighed. “And yeh, I’ll have a cup please.” Zayn brushed his lips against his forehead and went to the kitchen.

When he got back, Niall was on his phone, laughing about something the person on the other end said. “No, I’ll make sure he does that. Oh, he’s back just now, and it smells _delicious_.”

“Are you talking to my mum?” Zayn asked. He wasn’t really surprised when Niall grinned and nodded, the two of them were really close and obviously talked on the phone quite often.

“Thank you. No, for that too. It’s gonna taste great, nothing you make is bad.” Laughter. Zayn put down the tea and the plate he had brought on the small table next to the sofa. “Thanks, Trisha. I’ll tell him. Yeah, you too! Bye!” He put his phone down. “Your mum says hi.”

“I almost think she talks to you more often than to me.”

“We both know she loves me more anyway” Niall teased, reaching for the plate. “Hmmm, oh god. Your mum is a goddess, wow, this is _delicious_.”

Zayn tried to ignore what the sounds Niall was making did to him, and shuffled a bit. ( _What? He hadn’t seen his boyfriend in a couple of weeks and phone sex or even via skype did just not do it._ )

Niall finished his food and leant back, groaning. “I haven’t had anything this good in weeks. You should’ve _seen_ the stuff they were handing out in the hospital! Doesn’t even qualify as food, if ya ask me.” He looked up at Zayn. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing” Zayn said a little too quickly. “’m just gonna…”

Niall laughed. “I can see right through ya, y’know? Come here.” He patted the sofa.

Zayn blushed and tried to lie down without brushing his groin against any part of Niall. He was embarrassed for being half-hard because of Niall moaning over _food_.

Niall huffed out a laugh and tugged him closer, pushing their bodies flush together. “Just because I’m on meds doesn’t mean I don’t have needs” he said, his hands sliding down Zayn’s back to his ass. “You’re just gonna have to do all the work.” He pushed his hips forward just enough to make Zayn draw in a breath at the friction.

“Okay” he breathed and started moving his hips until Niall was fully hard and bit his shoulder lightly, muffling a moan.

What followed were fumbling, impatient hands and breathy moans, discarded clothes and a steadying hand on Niall’s leg to keep his knee still as he came.

Later, when they were cleaned up and at least partially clothed again, Niall resting his head on Zayn’s chest, he said: “I really needed that. ‘m not saying I’m not enjoying the cuddling and stuff, ‘s great, but I missed ya _so_ much, and a wank just doesn’t cover it.”

“I know what you mean” Zayn agreed sleepily. “’s not the same.”

“Wanna watch a movie?”

-

Zayn looked down at Niall’s peaceful expression, a small smile on his lips. The end credits were still rolling, but Niall had fallen asleep about halfway through the movie, his head nestled into the crook of Zayn’s neck as he rested between his legs.

He started kissing along Niall’s jaw and neck, down to his shoulder, making Niall stir a little.

“Wha-“ he mumbled, still more than halfway asleep.

“You need to take your meds, love” Zayn whispered, kissing a spot right below Niall’s earlobe, making the boy shudder.

“Don’t wanna. Can we cuddle forever?”

“We can get right back to it once you’ve taken your meds, Ni” Zayn chuckled, gently pushing the blonde off him and getting up to fetch the pills.

When he got back, Niall was sitting upright, wiping the sleep out of his eyes. “How long was I asleep for?”

“About an hour, I’d say. You looked so peaceful, I didn’t wanna wake you before it was absolutely necessary.”

Niall swallowed his pills with the tea Zayn had brought along, pulling a grimace. “Disgustin’. I’m gonna be a happy man when I’m done with these.”

Zayn laughed. “Do you need anything else, love? Are you hungry? Warm enough? D’you need another pillow behind your back?”

“Zayn” Niall interrupted. “Jus’ get back here. You’re the only pillow I need.”

Smiling, Zayn climbed behind him again, pulling Niall against his chest. “I could get used to this.”

-

Over the next few days, Zayn did his best to keep Niall entertained, cuddling him, kissing him, bringing him his phone, food, drinks, whatever Niall felt like, watching several of the endless movies he’d brought. He was pretty sure he could do a voice-over for Step Brothers by the fifth day – with the sound off. Niall definitely could, he’d seen the film countless times, but he still thought it was positively hilarious, laughing about all of Brennan’s and Dale’s misadventures. And since Niall’s laugh was Zayn’s favourite sound in the whole world, he went along with it. One time though, Niall actually started crying towards the end of the movie, when the step brothers met again after not having seen each other for a while.

“Sorry” Niall had sobbed. “It’s the meds, they make me emotional.” Zayn had just held him and wiped his tears away as they fell. And soon enough, Niall was laughing again.

About a week after Niall had gotten home, he looked up from the food Zayn had brought him. “This isn’t one of Trisha’s. Where’d ya get this?”

“I made it” Zayn murmured shyly.

“You made it? This? Why’d ya never tell me ya could cook, Zaynie? ‘tis really good!”

“Really? You like it?”

“It’s delicious” Niall smiled widely.

“I’ve been practicing” Zayn explained, his cheeks flushed. “Didn’t want you to eat shit food once we ran out of my mum’s just because you can’t get up and cook for yourself.”

“Z…” Niall said with bright eyes. “Thank you. I love you, ya know?”

Zayn smiled at him brightly. “I love you too.”

-

He’d honestly thought he’d get sick of being stuck in the apartment for days on end, but instead, Zayn found himself really enjoying the calm, relaxed days. Of course, Niall got bored sometimes, he was so used to jumping around and doing everything at once, always busy, never sitting still, but Zayn usually found a way to distract him.

And they’d talked about it, it was nice having as much time as they wanted, time to just be _there_ together. Their busy schedule rarely left them time to breathe between concerts, interviews, photo shoots or award shows, and this whole domestic things was new grounds to them.

When Niall was asleep in his arms, Zayn idly tracing the freckles on his pale skin, he thought that this was what he imagined his life to be like in a few years. Maybe a bit more busy, he’d still want to do _something_ , but he suspected they’d get to that eventually anyway. Finding a new aspect of their relationship, seeing that they worked in this setting just as perfect as they always did, was exciting and beautiful.

He didn’t know what the future would bring for either of them, but if he had any say in it, he wanted Niall in it, and he wanted to explore every possible side of their relationship.

Until then, Zayn was happy with holding Niall close, feeling his steady heartbeat under his palm.

**Author's Note:**

> hope you liked it! :)   
> you can follow me on tumblr (kissingziall) for endless ziall feels and some more of my writing, i don't post everything on here...  
> x


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